Police Departments Are Training Dogs To Sniff Out Thumb Drives (cnet.com) 159
A CNET report provides some insight on an elite K-9 search class that trains dogs to sniff out electronics, including phones, hard drives and microSD cards smaller than your thumb. From the report: Only one out of every 50 dogs tested qualifies to become an electronic storage detection, or ESD, dog, says Kerry Halligan, a K-9 instructor with the Connecticut State Police. That's because it's a lot harder to detect the telltale chemical in electronics than it is to sniff out narcotics, bombs, fire accelerants or people, she says. But Labrador retrievers like Harley, with their long snouts and big muzzles, can pick up even the faintest olfactory clues. These tech-seeking dogs are helping law enforcement find child pornography stashed in hidden hard drives, uncover concealed phones, nab white-collar evidence kept on hard drives and track calls stored on SIM cards. The most famous case occurred in 2015, when a Labrador retriever named Bear found a hidden flash drive containing child pornography in the home of former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. The district attorney called the discovery vital to Fogle's conviction.
...and track calls stored on SIM cards. (Score:5, Funny)
These tech-seeking dogs are helping law enforcement find child pornography stashed in hidden hard drives, uncover concealed phones, nab white-collar evidence kept on hard drives and track calls stored on SIM cards.
Track calls? That's SOME nose on them dogs.
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On WiFi, nobody knows you're a dog.
Re:...and track calls stored on SIM cards. (Score:4, Funny)
Heck, it had me at "find child pornography stashed in hidden hard drives"! Wow! they have biologic quantum decrypting noses?
Anyone that puts stuff (illegal OR personal) on a USB stick in anything other than an encrypted volume is an idiot. Someone grabs my USB keys and they get nothing but random data bits.
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Re:...and track calls stored on SIM cards. (Score:4, Funny)
- Prosecutor sticks drive in USB port, fumbles, turns it over , fumbles some more...
- Defense: Your Honor, members of the Jury, if the drive wont fit , you must acquit.
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Where did you see that he had stuff on a USB stick? I just looked up his case. He was found out by his own mouth, a wire tap and a real CP guy that had records of Fogle. They seized his stuff, I don't see any mention of a USB stick anywhere. If you don't remember that's fine. This would be the first case that I know of where they stored stuff on a USB stick and had nothing on their machine. Usually it's all on their machine. In the open. They don't think they'll ever get caught.
Want a real read? Read about
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K9 has a laser nose and a USB tongue [wikipedia.org] (or was it the other way around?)
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Of course they can track calls, just as accurately as they can accurately sniff out electronic devices.
My old co-worker had a police dog signal on his car, mind you this guy is so clean he squeaks when he walks. He made the mistake of getting lost (while being white) in a minority neighborhood with drug dealers. He figured out where he took the wrong turn, but the cops pulled him over after about 2 blocks when he stated driving again. They asked him what he was doing, he admitted he got lost after a long da
Re: ...and track calls stored on SIM cards. (Score:1)
Welcome to America; where you have to paint yourself as a flag-toting boyscout that volunteers at soup kitchens 8-days-a-week before sharing a story of authoritarian abuse.
In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops think (Score:5, Interesting)
Someone did an interesting experiment. They invited police dogs, with their handlers, to an experiment. There were drugs hidden in certain places in a room. The test was explained to the cops "we want to see if your dog finds the drugs hidden under the blue bowl". The dogs all reliably signaled on the blue bowl.
The drugs were, of course, under the red bowl. The dog /handlers reliably signaled where the handler wanted them to, and not where the drugs were.
That's not to say there aren't a FEW dogs and handlers who are very good. The majority of them completely fail basic tests.
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This comment high lights the reality of drug sniffing dogs. Did the same person who put the drugs under the bowl, handle the other bowl and hence spoiled the experiment. In the case of dogs sniffing electronics, well, that is a scam and lie and devious misdirection. So what did they sniff, why the person handling the device and the device is likely to be pretty onerous considering what the person is doing and will be handling the device before and after. So smelling the person and not the device but the who
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And I believe that this is the paper on the study referenced in that article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
If this technique is used solely to locate hidden devices which are known to exist, and not as an excuse to search
Re:In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops th (Score:4, Informative)
I've been to a training academy for police dogs. I got to hide the contraband myself and the handlers were not present. All 3 dogs being trained that day had no problem locating the stash.
Can the handlers have an influence on the dog? Absolutely. That is likely poor training of the handler, though.
Here's a study and an article (Score:5, Informative)
Here's an article:
http://bigthink.com/neurobonke... [bigthink.com]
About this similar study:
https://link.springer.com/arti... [springer.com]
I'm sure you can find more with about 60 seconds on Google.
Trained how to get what they want (Score:2)
> Can the handlers have an influence on the dog? Absolutely. That is likely poor training of the handler, though.
Cop wants to search your car. The cop has been trained that if he says the dog alerted on your car, the court will allow the search. Cop says the dog alerted on your car, and gets to search it. That's totally successful as far as the cops are concerned.
The cops have no incentive to refrain from arbitrary searches.
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However, one does get tired of the "citation needed" d
Re:In tests, drug dogs, handlers hit where cops th (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, the dogs will find actual stashes. But they'll also alert on nonexistent stashes, if they believe they should (especially if reward-trained -- then you get "offered" behavior). As the Springer link lays out: Handler expectations influence the behavior of trained dogs, and even when you =think= you're giving no cues, the dog will pick up on it.
[pro dog trainer here; doesn't surprise me in the least, especially with highly reactive breeds like German Shepherds.]
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Will this work? https://www.cannabisculture.co... [cannabisculture.com]
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I should add, this guy had (at the time) a pretty good security clearance, had his fingerprints rolled at least 3 times a year for various reasons (not just the SC) so he could be checked out, and had random urine tests (usually a couple times a year) just like me.
Yeah, you lost me here because it's clear that you don't know wtf you're talking about.
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For those wondering how they get past the 'noise' (Score:4, Interesting)
They use the dogs on rooms that all visible electronics have already been removed, so only hidden electronics would be in the room.
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A new 3D X-ray system to have the exact 3d dimensions of the cards?
A 3d X-ray machine to detect the structure and metal content of a 512gb microSD card?
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More like they just need some phony reason to justify unreasonable search and seizure
In the 'good old days', and officer could just swear that they 'smelled the odor of marijuana' to get a free pass to search without a warrant, now they just need some dog with a vest on and the ability to read the 'signal'.
I think that Benjamin Franklin said, 'It's okay to give up your basic rights if it is "for the children"'.... right?
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Look, Fido is tired (Score:1)
People used to make clothing out of AOL CDs [pinimg.com]. Crooks can just make them out of thumb drives now.
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A more elegant, if more involved, process would probably be to cook up an 'air freshener' infused with the less-than-totally-delightful scent of partially scorched flux, outgassing epoxy; and mi
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Why mess around when you can get the real deal Triphenylphosphine oxide [sigmaaldrich.com]
98% ! Just sprinkle some powdered TPPO on the carpets and vacuum, poor fido goes into olfactory overload when he walk in.
Marijuana dogs... (Score:2)
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If the dog 'indicates' in response to
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Re:Marijuana dogs... (Score:4, Funny)
One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down.
If Illinois legalizes pot, maybe they won't need so many sheriffs . . . and they will have to be put down.
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One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down. Not re-purposed or sent to retire with their handlers (like usually happens when they are no longer able to do their jobs). Euthanized. It's the "Think of the doggos!" approach to keeping pot illegal.
I had a friend whose police dog got sick. The state decided not to treat it and instead put the dog down. The officer didn't have a say. Even if he wanted to pay for the treatment himself, it is not his dog, the dog is the property of the state. The dog got a full honors funeral paid for by the state but the state owns the dog not the officer. Even when the dog gets injured in the line of duty, many times they won't let the dog retire and live out their natural lives for 2 reasons. One is that the han
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One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down.
BS. Detection dogs and patrol dogs are separate training programs. Detection dogs have not been trained to attack.
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One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down.
BS. Detection dogs and patrol dogs are separate training programs. Detection dogs have not been trained to attack.
Not BS. The Sheriff's argument was that they cannot retrain the dogs to remove pot from the list of things they will hit on (which is true). It's absurd to say they have to euthanize the dogs, but the dogs WOULD have to be removed from service, because the dog can't tell you what it found, only that it found something that it's trained to search for. Every drug dealer would just keep a small quantity of pot for a dog to smell, no probable cause for a search.
Detection dogs were never trained to attack (Score:2)
One of the sheriffs in Illinois is arguing that if the state legalizes pot all the police dogs will have to be put down.
BS. Detection dogs and patrol dogs are separate training programs. Detection dogs have not been trained to attack.
Not BS. The Sheriff's argument was that they cannot retrain the dogs to remove pot from the list of things they will hit on (which is true). It's absurd to say they have to euthanize the dogs, but the dogs WOULD have to be removed from service, because the dog can't tell you what it found, only that it found something that it's trained to search for. Every drug dealer would just keep a small quantity of pot for a dog to smell, no probable cause for a search.
You misunderstand, I apologize for not being clear. The BS is that they have to be euthanized. My point is that detection dogs pose no more of a threat to the public than civilian dogs, that detection dogs have *not* been trained and conditioned to intimidate, threaten and bite people. Euthanizing dogs is something that the military had historically done to patrol dogs due to such training and/or actual combat experience. I believe the modern trend is for the military to attempt to re-train the dogs to be l
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That's exactly the same argument that was used in the UK regarding the ban on fox hunting with dogs, some years ago. A few hunt organisers went on television to warn that their horses and dogs are working animals, and if there was no work they would be killed.
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You think he'd do that in person? The dog is TRAINED to ramble up and sniff those drives.
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Blue smoke sniffers? (Score:3)
The dogs, they can sniff out the blue smoke before it escapes. Good dog!
Seriously, what is the chemical they're looking for?
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Say the correct German word and a K9 unit will alert too.
Great to search a car, van, truck in the USA as the K9 is constitution approved. The way the dog stands is like a fax machine and a search warrant.
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Say the correct German word and a K9 unit will alert too
Ah, does that only work for sheppards? But seriously, some of the more enjoyable conversations I've had with people in other countries is about animal sounds...it's good to do over a few beers.
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Blind Tests Have Shown Dogs Don't Work (Score:5, Informative)
X sniffing dogs mostly don't work. They're just probable cause on a leash. I'm not saying that dogs can't sniff some of this stuff. I'm saying most of the time, they're just used to get around the constitution by a zealous cop.
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And I'm saying that your full of shit. Sure, it happens, and I don't deny that. But "mostly doesn't work"...that's bullshit.
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The question isn't "Can dogs find X?" It's "How many false positives and negatives do dogs have for finding X?" If you train a dog to find X, where X is a large selection of items, and you're doing it in a relatively uncontrolled environment, you're likely to get a lot of failures on the dog's part for the same reason humans are unreliable in blind taste tests: there's simply too many varia
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False positives or false negatives are only part of the problem with the function and action of K9 units as a whole.
Simply put, it is impossible for a judge, attorney, or a citizen to determine if a trained dog is either:
a) actually detecting contraband, or
b) reacting to a specific clandestine command which triggers the dog to signal a "hit," thus nullifying your 4th amendment protection illegally, and providing law enforcement with the perfect opportunity to "find" the contraband they brought with them in
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Or c) Reacting to a subtle signal that even the handler doesn't realise. Dogs have been selectively bred to pick up on human emotions better than many humans can - they are quite capable of recognising when the handler would like them to detect something, and learning that a detection in those circumstances means a happy handler.
Plain scent... (Score:1)
Probable Cause (Score:5, Insightful)
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I wonder if there's going to be a supply of pre-loaded "drop drives" for when the dogs find nothing.
Mask the smell (Score:2)
Hide it in something that would mask the smell, if the other smell over-rides the smell of say an SD card no dog will find it. Hide it in the garlic powder or curry powder bottle.
ESD (Score:2)
Two thoughts (Score:2)
Second, no one told these folks that ESD stands for Electro-Static Discharge?
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I'm not surprised - I can easily smell electronic devices. I'm surprised only one in fifty dogs can
It depends on the source of the dogs. At one end we have pound rescues, on the other end we have organizations that have bred their own highly trainable working dogs for nearly a hundred years, ex Seeing Eye guide dogs. I've raised supermarket mutts and pups from the Seeing Eye (they are fostered with families until 14 months of age when they begin guide dog training). I've had some great dogs from the former but the latter were truly exceptional and consistent in terms of intelligence, trainability, temper
Easy problem to solve (Score:2)
Going to coat all of my thumb drives in liverwurst so the police dog eats the evidence...
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just be sure its not the 23rd of may...
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Dude, you're backwards. Look at facts. Who do we know that was passing his own executive orders that were clearly illegal and stuck down by courts and they kept right on doing them? Obama. Who had scandal after scandal after major scandal and continues to have scandals even after he's departed - obama. Latest one is all of his missing records. Same thing happened with Clinton with his people being caught red handed trying to remove materials from the national archives. Who accuses the other side of doing ex
This is impossible (Score:2)
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So a flash drive can have extremely common silicone that's on most phone cases, steel casing around the USB that's on most phones and charging cables, flash memory which is in every phone, a small circuitboard that's in everything, and a plastic casing that everything is made out of. What exactly is unique about flash drives that they're supposed to be smelling?
Your abject guilt.
Anything needing a sniffing is a guilty terrorporner. Or something.
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They're smelling chemicals on a PCB. Not silicone, silicon. And it seems that they don't mind having false positives.
I wonder if they'll rent out their services. (Score:2)
Ar least (Score:2)
If a dog chews up your SD card, the cops won't get much information off it
What do ya know? (Score:1)
Modern packet sniffers.
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Layoffs, budget cuts, and pension claw backs. (Score:1)
I don't think these cops understand the will of the people. They seem incapable of learning. The only thing that will stop them is dis-empowerment and legal restrictions that lead prosecution in the courts with jail time.
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Let's be honest here. Aren't you already presumed guilty if they flag you?